The Joke's on You
by J-Meister
Summary: Sometime's you would think life was hard enough, but when Natalie take's the oppurtunity to help someone who seemed gravely injured, she learn's that her life has taken a rollarcoaster ride, and is never sure when it will end. gradual JokerxOC
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR: **Hello all! It has been quite a while since i have last written stories, today i just had a random inspiration to start this on the bawl. Since i am Ofcourse, a joker fan. and many stories on this site has influenced me to write my own. Hope all goes well and well...The more you review, the more inspiration to continue i wll have! haha. Enjoy! - I do not own Joker, though i wish i did! LoL

* * *

><p>The night air was crisp, a faint chill hung through the night as a young blonde haired woman walked, tugging her clothing tighter as she went. She jumped inwardly to every noise in the night and stared around suspiciously, she had been in Gotham too long to not know how violent this town could get at night, especially with the top 10 most wanted villain now in town. 'The Joker' as the new's headlines spreaded, The name mimicked his very looks.<p>

The dark haunting eyes caught her gaze all the time on the news, each time she saw them, she unexpectedly shivered, Something about that gaze seemed to haunt her.

A strong breeze picked up suddenly, blowing open her jacket. She quickly tightened her grip, picking up the walking pace as paranoia set in. The last thing she wanted was to have a run in with any criminal, namely those that supported 'the joker'.

As if it was her luck, rain began to make its way down as she groaned, realising she forgot her umbrella.

"I should have just stayed in bed" she sighed, not even her jacket had a hooded attachment for her head. So instead, she began to run, glad that she was just around the corner from her apartment.  
>She kept her eyes ahead while keeping a steady pace as she tried to calculate anything suspicious that could jump out at her, trouble was the last thing on her list.<p>

That was when she saw something stumble and hit the floor on her path with a loud crash, knocking over and spilling the contents of a rubbish bin next to it.  
>"What the...?" she gasped and stopped quickly.<p>

A fairly large object now lay in her way, the trash can rolling from side to side next to it, the large object seemed to move for a moment but then stopped, a low groaning noise following it's cease of movement.

_Wait?... groaning?_ she thought, her blue eyes widening. That wasn't just an object, it was human.

Thinking the better of herself, she ran towards the person, ignoring the warning signal's going off in her head.  
>As much as she desperately wanted to get inside and away from the streets, she just couldn't leave an injured person like this, the rain would be enough to kill them if she didn't do something.<p>

Reaching the body she noticed that it wasn't moving anymore, they laid face down, partially in the pile of rubbish from the fallen rubbish bin.

"H-h..hello?" she said nervously, knowing how stupid it may have been talking to an unresponsive body. Gripping their wide shoulder's, she shook them slightly and jumped when a groan followed soon after.

"H..hey, can you hear me?" she asked shakily. With her strength she pushed the person onto their side. That was when she discovered it was a man, not too much older than her, she guessed, but being covered by the dark, she found it hard to see his facial features.

The body moved slightly, his head rolled and fell face down as his hand weakly pushed from the ground, trying to get himself up but only to succeeding in collapsing into her arms.

"Hey, come on...we got to get you inside somewhere" she started to tell the man, knowing the rain wasn't helping.  
>she moved her right arm to push the man up into a sitting position but instead froze when she noticed in the glimmer of the street light, a strange colour running down her arm.<p>

"Is that...blood?" she whispered, watching as it blended into the rain.

Only now did she notice a strange puddle she was kneeling in had the same colour as her arm, she gasped, this man is badly injured!

"Sir...S-Sir! We got to get you to a hospital! can you hear me?" she shook the man harshly, slightly scared of how he got his wounds.  
>This time a more rapid response came from the man and he began trying to push himself up again with a growl.<p>

"**No**." He said suddenly, his voice menacing as he stood up halfway, only to collapse onto all fours.

Unsure what to do, the blonde woman rushed to help the man stand. At first a deep frustrated growl erupted from him and she gripped his left arm to help him up. She continued to stare warily at the man, wondering if this was the right thing to do.

"You've bled heavily sir, don't push yourself" she said shakily, "you'll need the hospi-..." the woman stopped when the man snapped his head towards her and glared darkly up into her eyes.

"**No**..._No Hos**pital**_" He spoke firmly but did not fight her as she helped him to stand, "Take me..._uh_..._Take me in__**side**_..." he demanded, his voice sending a chill through the woman's spine.

Her blue eyes helplessly darted around her street hoping someone was there to help her take this man out of her hands, something told her to be afraid but she couldn't just leave him alone to survive, he was already half dead!

To her major disappointment, no one was seen in the street, not even cars were driving by at this time of the night, she sighed nervously and placed the man's left arm around her shoulder to help him stand. He could only just move, she noticed and wondered how he was tolerating the pain as her blue eye's stared into the ragged remains of the man's shirt, feeling thankful that it was dark enough to leave his wounds unseeable.

"_Weeell...?_" His raspy voice broke the young woman's train of thought, she didn't realise they had been standing for a while.

"Sorry" she whispered with a shake of her head, helping him to move towards the stairs, leading to her apartment. Her stomach began to twist in knots as she slowly helped the man up the small steps,  
><em>'I hope I'm doing this right, I don't even know this man and yet I'm leading him to my apartment!' <em>she thought to herself nervously.

As they made it to the door, the woman shifted her weight with a grunt, opening the door with a struggle and helped the man inside.  
>It took a lot more strength as she helped the slightly unconscious man up the staircase and down the corridor to her apartment door. Not even one person seemed to litter the hallway, it seemed the weather chased everyone away.<p>

Gently she helped him lean against the wall as she searched her soaked handbag for her apartment key, as she grabbed them and placed the key in the slot, she nervously peeked at the man she was willingly letting into her apartment. His hair was drenched and ragged, covering the man's face as his head stayed lowered, the only signs of life was the quick heavy breaths he took.

Turning her gaze downwards, she stopped at his abdomen and winced. She was sure she could see part of a rib in one area, this almost made her gag.  
>Taking this as her chance to look away, she turned the key and the door unlocked with a 'click'.<br>She pushed it back as far as she could and Moved towards the man, placing his arm around her shoulder and helping him inside towards her couch, all the while, the man stayed unnervingly silent.

As soon as she got him to lay down, she grabbed her old blankets from the cupboard and covered the soaked man, becoming more nervous on what she was going to do with the wounds, she wasn't a nurse that's for sure!

Once having the stranger laid down and covered, she could see him more clearly through the dirt, and she noticed peculariy, that this man had scarred features on both cheeks that was drawn towards his lips, just like a Cheshire's smile. She shivered, then realised she too was drenched still, so she walked in the direction towards her bedroom for a change of clothes. Passing the couch, a hand gripped her wrist tightly, causing her to stifle a scream.

"What's..._your name_..._bea__**uuutiful**_?" His deep raspy voice caused the blonde woman to pause, his voice seemed to trail up her skin, leaving goose bumps on the arm he gripped.

"Natalie" she almost whispered, her eye's caught by the dark familiar one's in front of her, a small grin grew upon the man's lips,

"What is yours?" she asked curiously. _'Those eyes...they seem familiar...' _she thought in wonder.

The grin grew slightly larger and she watched as the man's eye's started to droop,

"_They_ call me the...Jo..." his voice trailed off as his eyes closed and she watched with wonder as he succumbed to his own darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>Just a teaser<strong>...hahaha, let me know what you think, i love reviews. they inspire me ;)

_(p.s Hope the joker's personality is not over done . he's a hard one!)_


	2. Chapter 2

**Author: **Another boring weekend, sent me to do another chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 2<span>_

The grip of Natalie's hand fell and she snapped out of her thoughts, not realising she was still watching the stranger on her lounge for a sign of movement, she rushed to her room and quickly changed, feeling a lot better now that he wasn't awake.

Whoever he was.

But that didn't stop her feeling so concerned and afraid whenever she took a glance over in the man's direction. What was she going to do with his wounds?

Sighing, she knew had no choice but to clean him up, enough so that he wouldn't be worse off by the morning or dead. Natalie shuddered at the thought of finding a corpse on her lounge by the morning, but she still wondered why he became angered about going to the hospital? _'They are there to help, right?_' she thought confusedly as her gazed lead to the phone, wondering if she should call an ambulance anyway,

'**No**..._No__ Hos_**pital**' The menacing voice in her head made Natalie shudder again, she didn't want to face his wrath if he woke up before the ambulance arrived. that is if he would get angry?

Instead she looked at the time, knowing not to test the Natalie noticed the clock had hit past 10:30 and groaned. It was late already.

"This is just great!" she muttered, going to the bathroom for her hand towel and disinfectants. Turning the tap on she waited with a bowl until water was hot enough to pour in the bowl. She grumpily chucked the hand towel in the bowl and mixed the disinfectant, slowly heading back to the lounge room as she did so.

Her body began to tingle nervously as she stopped and eyed the injured stranger, she had been feeling awkward enough helping the man, but now cleaning was going to be a nerve racking pain.

Hesitantly, Natalie looked at his dirt covered face. Even asleep there seemed to be a foreboding feeling that surrounded the stranger's body. Strong enough to make Natalie feel uncomfortable as she slowly placed a damp cloth on his forehead.

Straight away she flinched as it touched. Taking a gulp she slowly, but gently wiped a graze down the side of his left temple. A twitch of his eye made her stop and tense up, Her body was ready to run if needed but she stayed still, watching his eyes for any more reactions.

She continued much more slowly, releasing her breath as nothing happened.

Taking her mind off the dirt and blood as she cleaned his face, Natalie concentrated on his features, not sure where his facial features were recognisable from. _'Then again'_ Natalie thought sarcastically, She always seemed to be unable to even recognise co-worker's when they were not working, they always laughed at her and had to get her attention when they saw Natalie. She blushed at the thought, embarrassed at her stupidness and looked at his cheeks, watching as the dirt disappeared, leaving obvious red scar marks.

Her eyebrows furrowed and her free hand unconsciously made its way to the man's cheek, touching the ragged red mark as her eyes looked in concern, what had this man endured to earn such a mark on his face?

"_Want_ to know_**-uh**_..._how I.. got __**them**_**?**" The lips moved, the deep voice escaping them. Natalie froze, her body tingled as a chill lashed her body.

Hesitantly she lifted her gaze, the dark brown eye's stared into her own, calculating her reaction.

Something rested on her neck, Something cold and metal. she gulped, regretting her generosity of letting this injured man in her home. She was quite a fool.

"_Weeell...?"_ He remarked, knowing full well that he wasn't helping the scared woman. He formed a grin, enjoying as she opened and closed her mouth, watching her as she formed words.

"N-no.." She stuttered, her arm shuddered, still rested on his scar. Slowly she returned her arm to her side, feeling safer with it there.

The metal object slowly left her neck and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, _'What am I going to do?'_ she thought warily and unconsciously looked over to her phone.

"You'll be ..._uh_..._**dead**_..._before you can...uh.. try __sweetcakes_" his taunting voice broke her thoughts, and she flinched as he used the word 'dead' as if it was nothing to worry about. her blue eyes looked back at him, he seemed relaxed, but she saw the grip on the pocket knife tighten as he grinned again.

"I got'ta say..." He paused to emphasise his thinking, "...That_-uh_, **you** must be either ..._uh...foolish_...or...what's the other..**ah**..._or crazy_"

"W-w..what do you mean?" she asked nervously, looking both at the knife and the man's face, her insides were twisting wildly as she tried to keep herself calm.

He stared at her, looking deep into her eyes to see whether it was the truth. When he saw what he wanted, he smiled wickedly.

"I ..._uh...seemed_ to made a mistake in_-uh_..not..._**introducing**_..._myself_." He laughed but stopped short and gripped his stomach. "How.._ disgracefull_ of me" he grinned at her.

Natalie balled her hands into fists as they sweated, this man seemed slightly psychotic,she watched him sit up slightly, letting a breath go from the tension of his stomach.

Then his face lost all laughter, his eyes grew serious and Natalie noticed it seemed more malicious, she flinched and looked away for a moment. just as she did, she saw the newspaper article on her coffee table and widened her eyes. A grim image of the joker lay upon the front.

_'Those eye's...?'_

"Nata**lieee**..." the man called in high pitch, her wide, tear swelling eye's made their way back to his as the same malicious eye's as in the paper met her own.

"The name's ..._Joker_" He laughed manically, as the recognition and horror showed all over her face.

_'What have I done?_' she screamed to herself, '_I've just been helping the most feared man on earth!'_

Forgetting everything, Natalie bolted for the apartment door, hoping his wounds would make him too weak to follow her straight away. She just reached the door and held the handle when she was thrown back to the floor, knocking her head on the coffee table harshly.

Her vision blurred as a strong throb ached at the back of her head, a dark blur became bigger as it made its way to her. Only when it bent down did she recognise it as the Joker, he was fast.

She tried to shuffle backwards but he gripped the front of her work shirt, "_**uh. uh**._ _now-uh i wouldn't be so_...**uh**..._rational now_" The Joker tisk'ed, but Natalie continued, afraid of him being so close.

He growled and flashed his pocket knife, "_Stop-uh.. moving."_

Whimpering slightly, Natalie stilled, as he gripped her jaw, bringing the knife to her mouth.

"Such...a _preeetty_ face...you _woul__**dn't**_ want a **scar** on _it_ _would you_?" He commented, making sure of his point.

"N-no, please...w-what do you want?" Natalie whimpered, as he squeezed her jaw and brushed the knife on her cheek. Looking at her, he looked at her sincerely,

"I just need some **aid**" he said neutrally, looking almost human, Natalie looked at him in surprise.

"W-what?" she asked, unsure of what he meant.

He started giggling, then slowly it erupted into a mad laughter as he threw his head back, thinking what he said was a big joke, before he stopped and grinned again at her.

"I just need_-uh_...a _**place**_ to stay..._for the night_." he let go of her jaw, "_Aaand_ _you_ are going to _help-uh_..._**me**_, _and stitch me back together_" he growled slightly, watching with amusement as she began to shake at the thought of helping him.

_'What am I getting myself into?_'

* * *

><p><strong>Review? ;)<strong>


End file.
